“Devote yourselves to prayer”, “pray continually” Col 4:2, 1Th5:17
Covenant service 5 Jan 2003 pm
In his book Living Life on Purpose, Greg Anderson shares the story of one man’s journey to joy: ... his wife had left him and he was completely depressed. He had lost faith in himself, in other people, in God—he found no joy in living.
One rainy morning this man went to a small neighbourhood restaurant for breakfast. Although several people were at the diner, no one was speaking to anyone else. Our miserable friend hunched over the counter, stirring his coffee with a spoon. In one of the small booths along the window was a young mother with a little girl. They had just been served their food when the little girl broke the sad silence by almost shouting, "Momma, why don’t we say our prayers here?" The waitress who had just served their breakfast turned around and said, "Sure, honey, we pray here. Will you say the prayer for us?" And she turned and looked at the rest of the people in the restaurant and said, "Bow your heads."
Surprisingly, one by one, the heads went down. The little girl then bowed her head, folded her hands, and said, "God is great, God is good, and we thank him for our food. Amen." That prayer changed the entire atmosphere. People began to talk with one another. The waitress said, "We should do that every morning." "All of a sudden," said our friend, "my whole frame of mind started to improve. From that little girl’s example, I started to thank God for all that I did have and stop majoring in all that I didn’t have. I started to choose happiness."
We are here to commit ourselves to:
- the Lord- Jesus
- the gospel- hence the creed. Central/historic tenants of the faith
- this fellowship (& fellowship with other Xians)
- His purposes
o In our lives… here… being a disciple…
o Sharing the gospel we are committed to (word, deed)
o But particularly His purposes as achieved through PRAYER
We are here to ‘devote ourselves to prayer’
- it’s something Christians do!
What a man is on his knees before God: that a man is, and no more.
Robert Murray McCheyne
- It’s how we commune/communicate with God
- It is, primarily, how we bring about His Kingdom
o “unless the LORD builds the house…”
- that’s NOT to say WE don’t do our part
o we are His hands, lips, feet
o cf our social action project, ch meeting….
- … but unless THE LORD comes and helps us out
o as a church, nation… individuals
- … we’re scuppered, really!
o ‘not by might,, nor by power”
o “oh how I need you, Lord, you are my only hope!”
I believe we won’t be disappointed if we trust God
- we may be SURPRISED!
- have found prayer is not a slot machine
- blessing often comes elsewhere to where you’ve been praying!
And so, tonight, in committing ourselves to all these central things
- we also commit ourselves to prayer… and this focus on prayer
Now, if you’re anything like me, you’ll feel some things inside, now
- “been there! Done that! Knackered!”
- “advocating some form of prayer that I just can’t get into”
- not sure it made a difference…. Before
So, let me address these issues…. All of which I’ve tackled, deeply
1) Made a difference?
Our problem often is we’re looking in the wrong place for the result
- truth is, don’t know HOW our prayers will be answered!
It’s OUR responsibility to pray
It’s GOD’S responsibility to act…
- how He’ll do that
o takes real trusting faith on our part
o is up to Him
So this one as to how it makes a difference doesn’t wash with me!
- Jesus says: “Pray!”. “watch and pray”
- So, pray we must!
2) Been there… tired out!
- I want to ask, ARE you tired out… or do you just THINK you are?
o With some of us, it’s not ‘tried and found tiring’, but ‘tired and not tried’!
And we’re tired because we’re not feeding on the bread of life… doing the Father’s will
• “I have food that you know nothing about”
Or, maybe, you ARE tired out by what you’ve experienced.
Again: ‘not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit’, says the Lord
- length, mode, frequency etc doesn’t matter
o we’re talking to a PERSON, here… NOT
o manipulating a force!
So- you don’t HAVE to KNACKER yourself!
- unless God specifically calls you to
o and He may!!
o (He does certainly expect us to exert ourselves)
- or we burn the WICK and not the OIL
o we must learn to burn the oil
- everything we do – MUST BE SUSTAINABLE
o Jesus rested, had fun, retreated, too
AND HE PRAYED!
Too many folks in the church attempt to serve out of their own strength and wisdom. That leads to burn out. Often times we’re still trying to impress someone else. One of my instructors told us to look at our spiritual lives like a pond. The time that we spend with God adds water to it. The more time we spend in secret with him, the more he fills the pond up. Eventually there’s so much water that it begins to overflow. It seeps out at first like a stream. As more water is added it moves with the force of a river. Eventually it cascades into a mighty water fall. That’s ministry from an overflow – spending so much time with him in secret that his presence gushes out of us. Too many of us are trying to create waterfalls by scooping bucket load after bucket load from a nearly depleted pond. Power comes from the practice of private piety.
(A quote from “Losing My Religion” , by Joel Smith Wellspring Community Church 10.06.02 Series: A Revolution of Grace: Christ’s Plan to Change Your World. From www.sermoncentral.com)
:
So- I’m not going to exhaust you
- in fact- you’ll find you get out more than you put in
o He might make us wait… work… test us
(He has the right to!)
- but there IS a REWARD to prayer
o this mornings sermon & Col 4:2 ‘watchful and thankful’
o In SOME way- you’ll be rewarded
And if you feel ‘been there, done that!’. I want to say
- “oh goodie! We need maturity, here! There’s NOTHING like experience and maturity!”
o wisdom is everything
o temptation can be, during focuses like these, to ‘go beyond our spec.’
we get encouraged… but then
get BEYOND ourselves… calling:
• “this and that is going to happen”
o well – it must all be tested by
wisdom
witness of the body of Christ
(ie Social Project- I’m looking for resonance in/with God’s people)
o If that’s your experience- learn from it, pick yourself up… dust off… start again!
So- if you’ve” been there, done that”
- come learn again with US!
- Journey with US!
3) Advocating some models of prayer
Nope, I’m not
As touched on this morning- the mode doesn’t matter
- and I’d like to say, tonight, there are SO many models in scripture, you can take your pick!
o ONLY PRAY- ONE WAY OR ANOTHER!
o Don’t let models be a mandate for missing out
Here are some of the ways you can pray, in scripture:
- corporate prayer. With others. Mt 18:20 ‘where two or three’
o form prayer triplets
o come pray with OTHERS, & let’s encourage each other
- Arrow prayers “oh God, oh God!” Nehemiah 1- ‘help, Lord’
o Quick prayers
- Desperate prayers: Jas 5 ‘is any of you in trouble- they should pray’
- Persistent prayers Lk 13:1 (the widow)
- Solitude: “Jesus went off by himself to pray”
- Binding and loosing- Mt 18 ‘what you bind’
- Meditation. Elisha 2 Kings 3:15 ‘bring me a harpist’
o – peter on roof Acts 10:9
- liturgical prayer: Acts 13 ‘as we were liturgising, the Lord said…’
- symbolic prayer. Symbolic things that help you
o Ex 17:1 Moses and lifted hands
o 2 ki 19:14 where Hezekiah takes a threatening letter and spreads it out before the Lord
But I guess I DO want you to consider ONE model, tonight
- that of “praying continually” 1 Thes 5:17
- > a way of being in touch with God ALL the time so that you are constantly talking to Him
o at one level or another
o or aware of His presence
= called, by some, ’practicing the presence of God’
- but I can’t do that! Not with my work!
o That’s because you haven’t ‘practiced’ enough, yet
- You see –your SPIRIT is not your soul: body, mind
- So- these parts of you- your soul… can be doing THEIR bit.. what they have to do,…
o but your SPIRIT can be constantly in touch with God
maybe it’s
• just an awareness of Him… His presence
• talking to Him
• praying in tongues while you do these things
• ‘silence’ and the weight of glory’ in your spirit….
… but SOMEHOW part of you is in touch with Him
Now- you can’t do it on your own
- it needs practice… quiet determination
- -it needs the HS, because this is part of ‘praying in the Spirit’
o so you need His HS’s help for your spirit to soar… commune with His
It’s great, actually. I find I don’t know what to pray half of the time, anyway!
So- it can include the mind, or be separate from it ‘I will pray with my mind AND my spirit’ 1 Cor 14:15
- Illustr: how I pray at moment
o Doesn’t make you an automaton
Friends
- let’s devote ourselves to prayer
- to ‘praying continually
- being in touch with our Lord and His presence as much as we can (as He IS there. It’s a matter of practicing, discerning His presence and communing with Him)
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